Think it was a bit of both. The fact that he struggled in the PL exacerbated his dick-headedness. If he was scoring for fun those incidents may not have happened.
The thought quickly went through my head that Osvaldo could represent Juventus against Saints in the Europa League, while still a Saints player, but that obviously can't happen.
Dani Osvaldo: âI struggled in England and wasnât really able to adapt. Itâs a very physical type of game, with really tough tackling. More attention is paid to tactics and technique in Italy and Spain and I find it suits me a lot better.â
Ironic that a self-styled 'tough man' can't handle a bit of tackling. Crap excuse, needs to just admit he wasn't good enough. Knob.
It proved what we all knew that he was good enough to produce spectacular moments (or a spectacular moment I suppose), but he didn't prove that he was 'good' enough to consistently play to a satisfactory level week in week out in the Premier League.
He didn't really give himself time to adapt tbh. He took the easy way out and made the club have no choice but to get rid. If he could have been arsed to work hard I reckon he would have been class.
Indeed given time you always assume a player with that much inherent ability will start applying it consistently, unfortunately we didn't get a chance to find out. I don't really buy into that it's that drastic a change in terms of style of league for a player like him, he had all the tools to succeed, but he got in his own way and the 'physical game' is just the normal kind of excuse you hear from a player switching leagues after a bad time of it. In fact most of the quotes I've seen from him since joining Juve are almost identical to the ones he was making when he got out of his 'personal hell' and came here.
I was there for the goal vs city, it was great and very exciting (bit of a lucky rebound off a defender at one point). That half he also managed to miss an open goal. Turned out to be offside so nothing made of it, but still, sums up his ability I think.
It is a lot different game here than most European leagues. Everything is 100mph and it is more physical here. You shouldn't underestimate the differences in styles of leagues. So many players take time to adapt; more by far than those who find their feet quickly. It's a shame, because he obviously wasn't the patient type, but he's a good player and will succeed somewhere if he can control himself.
How many times did you see him play to judge his ability. I really don't get why people can't see a player with ability, just because they haven't fitted in or worked out for Saints. Osvaldo oozes ability; we just didn't see the best of it. I'm glad he's gone for what happened and the sake of the team, but I'm not so saints blind that I couldn't see his obvious talent.
So one good piece of skill means that you are good enough, does it? Don't you remember when Rory Delap scored that overhead kick? Condescending prick.